


It's Me, Dummy

by therealjanebingley



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Ladybug's in love, No Real Angst, Poor Chat's been tricked too many times, and fighting, just confusion, just some fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25684288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therealjanebingley/pseuds/therealjanebingley
Summary: Ladybug is falling for her partner. Chat Noir takes her advances the wrong way.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 17
Kudos: 178





	It's Me, Dummy

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: In the first version I posted, several of you pointed out a glaringly large plot hole. You were absolutely right - I cannot even tell you how sleep deprived I was when I wrote this, and I completely missed it. 
> 
> So here's version 2.0, hopefully a little more believable.

Falling in love with Adrien was like getting struck by lightning. He handed her that umbrella in the rain, his green eyes so kind and vulnerable that she was immediately a goner.

Falling in love with Chat Noir was a little different. It was soft and slow, and snuck up on her so quietly that she didn't know she'd even begun falling until she was already there.

The realization hit after an akuma attack. As per usual, Ladybug was surrounded by reporters who wanted her take on the fight. She gave them her classic response, "Chat Noir and I are an unstoppable team", before excusing herself to go look for him. And there he was, where he always was after an attack - comforting the victim. They'd be sitting in the back of an ambulance, shock blanket tight around their shoulders, and he'd kneel in front of them so they didn't feel threatened. He'd make sure they were okay, then lift their spirits with a few jokes. Ladybug would never understand why anyone considered her to be the more popular of the two; sure, she came up with some good plans, but Chat Noir knew how to connect with the victims. To make sure they didn't carry too much guilt away with them.

Looking at him as he listened attentively to the latest victim, all Ladybug could think was: _I want to spend every day with Chat._ In that moment, she knew she would be happy to hang out with him every single day for the rest of her life. She wanted to tackle all of life's challenges with him, from akumas to tax returns to raising children.

That was when her face turned red. _Children!?_ Where did that come from?

And then she ran away - "Bug out!" - before she could embarrass herself by saying something out loud.

For a while, she kept her feelings to herself, and they didn't change. Her love for Chat Noir didn't trip her up the way her love for Adrien did, either - she may have laughed at more of his jokes than usual, or sent him a few more fond looks, but she didn't stumble or stutter. It was the intimidation of Adrien's perfection that made her stutter, and Chat Noir had made an idiot of himself in front of her too many times for her to be intimidated by him.

Eventually, she decided to tell him. It wasn't...well, it did not go as planned.

They met at the Eiffel Tower for patrol, as they usually did. Chat was already there when she touched down, leaning against one of the beams and looking out over the city. "Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, stopping next to him.

"Absolutely," he said, and when she turned, he was looking right at her.

Ladybug warmed at his attention, stomach fluttering pleasantly. "Good week?"

"Much better now that you're here, Bug," he said, winking.

In the past, she would have rolled her eyes and pushed him away. Tonight, she took a step towards him. "I could say the same. I always like spending time with you, Kitty."

He beamed at her, and her heart melted. He was always so thrilled to see her, no matter the occasion. And to tell the truth, she was just as thrilled to see him. "It sounds like you're angling for more time with your favorite feline," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "You know all you have to do is ask."

She shuffled towards him until their shoulders were pressed together, still looking out over Paris. "I've been thinking a lot about that lately."

Chat's eyebrows shot up. "You have?"

Ladybug nodded. "You know you're my best friend, right?"

His eyes softened, and he leaned towards her. "You're my best friend, too."

She took a deep breath. "And if I'm being honest," she said, hands clasped behind her back, "I'd kind of like to be more than that."

He frowned. "More than best friends? Like, super best friends?"

She laughed, reaching up to cup his face. "No, you silly chat," she said, and pushed up on her tiptoes to press her lips against his.

Ladybug had expected Chat to be startled at first, but she kind of thought he would melt into her after a second, deepen the kiss, maybe hold her close. 

He did not.

Instead, Chat physically pushed her back, eyes flashing with anger. 

Ladybug squealed in surprise, almost losing her balance. "Wha-" she gasped, looking back to see him in a fighting stance, baton in one hand, expression hard. 

"Where is Ladybug?" he growled.

"What?"

"I'm not falling for this again!" He lunged, swinging his baton, and she jumped out of the way. 

"Chat, stop!"

He lunged again, coming at her with a volley of attacks, and she dodged and blocked until she could jump onto a different beam. Ladybug held up her hands in surrender. "Chat Noir, what is going on?"

He glared at her, body still tense. "Give it up, Mayura," he spat. "You've lost."

"Mayura?" Her head spun. "What are you talking about?"

He leapt onto her beam, and she backed away from him. "I know you're a sentimonster," he snarled. "And ambushing me on patrol? This is a new low, even for you."

"I am not a sentimonster," Ladybug said, torn between desperation and offense. "Chaton, it's _me_."

He hesitated, then pointed his baton at her. "Prove it."

"Okay," Ladybug said, hands still up. "How do you want me to do that?"

"Tell me something only Ladybug would know."

Her eyes flicked around the tower as she tried to remember every interaction they'd ever had. "Um, I know that you love being Chat Noir because the mask gives you freedom. I know you don't have a great relationship with your dad, and he's part of the reason you like to get away from your civilian life." Chat's face twitched, but his expression was still hardened. "I know your kwami, Plagg, only eats camembert cheese, and you hate the way it smells but you buy it for him anyways. Your favorite color is blue..." - heat crept up her cheeks - "...like my eyes." She took a step towards him. "You love your mother, but you almost never talk about her. You know morse code and have a weirdly good sense of fashion." The corner of his mouth twitched up. "I know how frustrated you were when Master Fu made me keep all those secrets from you, and I know I should have told you about them anyways." She took another step forward. "I know you love me, and you have for a long, long time. And I know..." she took a deep breath. "I know I love you, too."

Chat's eyes, which had softened as she went, narrowed again. "You love me," he said flatly.

Ladybug took another step towards him, so she was as close as she could get with his baton in the way. "What is so hard to believe about that?"

"I want to believe," he said, a little low and a little desperate. "But so far, every time 'Ladybug' says she loves me or tries to kiss me, she's really a sentimonster."

"I've kissed you before," Ladybug reminded him.

"At Dark Cupid," he retorted. "I was under the akuma's influence. I'm not being controlled now."

"Neither am I," she said. "Let me - let me show you. I'll detransform. Sentimonsters can't do that, can they?"

His eyes got wide. "But you don't want-"

"I want you to trust me. I want you to believe me."

Chat looked at her for a moment, clearly at war with himself. "I'll look off to the side," he said, "so I can't see your identity. Once I can see your kwami, I'll know it's you."

Ladybug nodded. "If that's what it takes, then that's what we'll do. Ready?" Chat turned to look out over Paris again, muscles tensed incase she attacked him. "Tikki, spots off."

The little red kwami spun out of her earings. "We are too high up for this."

"I know, Tikki," Marinette said, shivering. It was a cold night, made colder by the wind, and she wasn't dressed for it. "Go say hi to Chat."

Tikki buzzed over to his line of sight. "Hello, Chat Noir," she said pleasantly.

Chat's arms fell to his sides. "It's really her?" he asked softly.

Tikki nodded, eyes twinkling.

"You can transform again," he called, and it was only after a flash of soft pink light that he turned to face his partner fully. His cat ears drooped, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

Ladybug watched him carefully. "So, we've established that I'm not a sentimonster?"

He winced, not looking her in the eye. "Yeah. I'm sorry, LB."

"You don't need to be sorry," she soothed. 

He continued as though he hadn't heard her. "I mean, what's more likely, Mayura trying to trick us again, or you actually wanting to kiss me?" He laughed self-depricatingly.

Ladybug put her hands on her hips. "I don't know how to tell you this, Chaton, but I do want to kiss you."

Chat's jaw dropped, and for the first time since she'd detransformed, he looked her right in the eye. "What? Why?"

"Like I said, you're my best friend," she said, shrugging. "You're always there when I need you. When anyone needs you. And we make a great team."

"Okay?" he said, almost like he was asking a question. Ladybug took another step towards him, slowly this time, so as not to scare him away.

"You make me happy," she told him, and his expression softened. "I don't want there to ever be a point in my life where I'm not around you." She took another step, this time into his personal space, and his cheeks flushed. "If I kiss you again, do you promise not to fight me afterwards?"

He nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Chat's honor," he whispered.

"I'll hold you to it." She rose up again, and he leaned down, and their lips met. It was short and soft and sweet, and they both felt it: that sense of rightness, mixed in with giddy happiness.

They both pulled away, and Chat sighed. "I'm going to be so disappointed if this is a dream."

Ladybug laughed, wrapping her arms around him. She just wanted to be close to him for now, as close as she could get. "At least it would be a good dream, right?"

He wrapped his arms around her, too. "A very good dream, my Lady."

She smiled into his chest. "I like it when you call me that."

He kissed the top of her head. "Me, too. We're going to need to come up with some kind of signal, though, so I know you aren't a sentimonster when you want to kiss me."

"Oh my god." Ladybug leaned back, looking up at him. "Are you serious? I thought you knew me!"

"I do!" he protested. "I'm just always down to kiss you with zero prompting. It gets me into trouble."

She laughed. "You're not always down. You did try to fight me a few minutes ago," she reminded him, and he pouted. "We'll start with this: I will never try to kiss you during battle."

"Aww," he groaned. "Fine."

She nudged him. "Hey, Chat?"

"Yeah?"

"We're not in battle right now."

He grinned. "No, we're not."

Patrol went long that night, though not a lot of patrolling got done. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ladybug did actually do a little work to convince Chat she wasn't a sentimonster other than just saying, "No, dummy, it's me." Plot hole: fixed. 
> 
> Thanks for commenting, and thanks for reading!


End file.
